Hunter
by hasu86
Summary: AU. Set against the backdrop of a dark and decadent world where demons lurk and fallen immortals hunt for black blood. Swords and guns. Hell. Salvation. Some boundaries should not be crossed...
1. Chapter One

Disclaimer: Inuyasha and any of its characters do not belong to me.

* * *

**Hunter**

_Chapter One _

**…**

"His indiscretions have gone on long enough. Do what you must to eliminate him and be sure to avoid the others. Are our orders clear, Hunter?"

Feeling the invisible chains tighten, she gritted her teeth in barely suppressed hatred that spanned several mortal lifetimes and had centuries to grow and fester like an open wound. Nevertheless, she forced a sickly sweet smile onto her lips.

"Crystal."

…

"Sadao-kun…" She released a shaky, shallow breath, body pliant and flushed as she stared into charcoal eyes.

A dark grin curved his lips as he stroked the side of her face. "That's right, Aimi-chan. Now just close your eyes."

And as the chocolate haired woman readily complied, fluttered shut those cloudy hazel eyes without a second thought, Sadao ran his fingers through her soft locks and easily peeled away the skimpy dress she wore.

"Aimi…Aimi…" he murmured, savoring the taste of her innocent flesh.

He licked a wet, hot trail between her breasts, circled her pulsing jugular before claiming her moaning lips in a bruising kiss. His long tongue swept in to relish the feel and flavor of her mouth, anticipation and hunger growing as the moments rushed by.

A trembling breath. An incoherent murmur. A stroke. A strangled gasp. A widening mouth and flickering tongue.

Pupils vertically narrowing, Sadao began to devour her from the bottom up. Scales appeared at his temples, lined the smooth column of his neck as he slowly guided his expanding mouth and lascivious tongue over and around her feet, up the silky smoothness of her creamy white legs. Warm and moist, slick and wet, languidly gliding up further and further, he slowly consumed every delectable inch of her young ripe body.

…

He was on the prowl tonight.

After recent occurrences involving what he believed to be a snake demon, Sesshoumaru Taisho was on the hunt for the rather elusive spawn from hell. After two days of tracking, no results, and still no lead, his patience was beginning to thin.

Stalking the darkened streets in a corrupt and decaying Tokyo, his unusually bright amber eyes peered into the shadows, sensitive ears sharp and tuned in to everything around him.

Dark whispers of broken promises. Offers to buy a soul, sell a soul, become a void consumed by greed and evil. Propositions. Sexual fantasies. Death and murder. Murmurs of immortality. Come. Step into the darkness, into a new hellish life of depravity and sinful decadence.

None of it was useful however. None of it led to the demon he was seeking.

_He devours young women. Yes, yes he does. And then he sheds. Devours young women. Young beautiful women. _

Sesshoumaru immediately paused before suddenly vanishing in pursuit of the raspy voices. He reappeared on top of a rooftop a block away. Eyes flashing a bright crimson, he tightened his hold on the two headed dark gargoyle.

"Speak," he demanded.

"Hunter," the two heads rasped together, fear overtaking their wild eyes.

Sesshoumaru squeezed its two necks, tempted to snap them both in half. "He who devours young women, where did you see him?"

"The Jewel. We hover, curious. He is dark, deceptive."

"And where does he take these women?"

"Never the same place."

"Where was he last?"

"The Sky."

Sesshoumaru released it, a clear warning in his eyes and voice. "If I find that you have deceived me, I will track you down and kill you."

In the next moment he was gone, catching the dark stream—a rippling transportation shift that paralleled the underworld and this world—and making his way towards the skyscraper hotel. The snake demon could run and hide all he wanted, while he still had the time, because Sesshoumaru would eventually find him and tear him apart.

…

"Inuyasha."

"Yeah?"

"The Jewel. Meet me there."

"Found him?"

"Perhaps."

Sweeping his cold gaze around the room, he closed his telecom and took a deep inhalation. He'd been here for sure, perhaps a few days ago if the dry dead skin was anything to go by. Shreds of what could've been a dress lay discarded on the suede loveseat along with diagonal gauges and strands of brunette.

The snake had most likely devoured her whole, shedding his outer skin a little while after. Sesshoumaru speculated he needed these women to keep his human form from deteriorating though unfortunately for him, he had chosen the wrong place to obtain his unwary meals.

As a Hunter, Sesshoumaru couldn't allow the snake demon's sloppy transgressions to go unchecked. The dark cries would become too much and the tendrils of duty would bind tighter and harder than they already were. Not to mention his father would crack open earth itself and bring his wrath upon his sons like no tomorrow.

His duty as a Hunter was the one, perhaps the only thing that kept him here on this god forsaken earth. And his fallen angel of a father of course. Always his father who had shoved his human saving, demon slaying ways down his sons' throats. Perhaps it was his way of atoning for the sins he'd committed during his life on earth, the very reason he was now fallen and reduced to a hell watcher. Or maybe it was for the lovers he had failed to protect and inevitably lost.

Flirtatious behavior aside, the old hell watcher was an unmerciful stringent bastard when it came to handling and keeping under control rogue demons and other creatures from the underworld. When they stepped over boundaries—which they often did because the alluring light, the innocence, the unsuspecting pure souls were much too hard for dark beings to resist tainting—the hunt commenced and strict punishment was dealt.

Admittedly, it was at times exhausting and more often than not a nuisance to gather intel and track the rogues down, but it was thrilling nonetheless. It fed his baser, more primal instincts, the ones which called for blood and destruction and delivered death in chaotic elegance.

Glancing one last time around the room, Sesshoumaru vanished and headed for The Jewel in the center of Tokyo.

…

"Sadao-san, wait…" She panted as the devilishly handsome stranger cupped her breast, licked and tasted the pretty curve of her jaw.

Blushing madly, she pushed him away and tried to straighten her skewed sequined top.

"But Mika-chan," he whispered low, baritone thick with seduction and conquest. "I haven't had _nearly_ enough of you yet." His hand glided up her short skirt, teasingly skimmed her already wet core as he looked deep into her violet eyes.

Her mind gradually grew fuzzy and leaning into his magnetic caresses, let him take her away.

Sadao led the oblivious girl through the throng of undulating bodies, feeling his fangs elongate in anticipation and suppressed hunger. Laying low for the past few days had been extraordinarily hard. Knowing the Hunters were on the prowl for him had made him more cautious in his movements. He couldn't afford to be sent back to the deepest layers of hell, not when he was so close to obtaining his permanent human form.

But his senses suddenly spiked, went into a frenzy when he felt a presence much darker and more powerful than his own.

_Hunters._

Gripping harder the girl's wrist, Sadao quickened his pace, keeping low and snaking his way towards the back exit.

…

Sesshoumaru narrowed his bright golden eyes, lips curling into an irritated sneer when he saw the snake make a quick turn for the exit, dazed woman in hand.

Inuyasha, having just arrived followed his line of sight and was just in time to catch the demon disappear through the back door. "That little shit."

Looking towards his seemingly calm older half brother, he quickly relayed what Shippou was finally able to trace on the snake demon. "He goes by the name of Sadao. Turns out this is the last woman he needs to consume before he can permanently attain his human form."

"Follow him through the back." It was all Sesshoumaru ordered before swiftly turning around and disappearing into the lurking darkness.

…

Within minutes, Sesshoumaru was able to cut him off, effortlessly landing on the building rooftop. Sadao skidded to a stop, the girl stumbling behind him and still completely under his demonic spell. He shoved her aside however, his lips twisting in anger until the sharp deadly fangs of his true form glinted in the waning moonlight. His midnight scales surfaced, thin ebony pupils ringed with crimson.

"I will not allow you to ruin this, Hunter," he hissed.

"I'm afraid you don't have a choice in the matter."

And before Sadao could catch Sesshoumaru's movements, he was thrown back by the force of his rippling power. Quickly picking himself up off the concrete, the snake demon jumped out of the way of the Hunter's sword strike. His neck rapidly lengthened and struck out but Sesshoumaru dodged, poisonous fangs not even close.

He saw Inuyasha approach and motioned towards the senseless woman as he evaded another powerful strike from the demon. But Sadao had sensed the other Hunter's presence and with a furious scream, arched his back as two more snakelike heads ripped forth and shot towards the younger Taisho.

Inuyasha called forth his sword and gripping the hilt tightly, slashed forward as he evaded the increasingly fast strikes.

With a powerful swing, Sesshoumaru smoothly cut through one of the heads, long black coat snapping in the wind as he pivoted sharply to the left in order to avoid another quick thrust.

Desperation called to Sadao, the need to survive gripping his panicking heart. Seeing the older Hunter flicker towards him, twin swords ready to run through his chest, he grasped the girl between his jaws just as Inuyasha sliced off Sadao's second head with a stinging hiss, his blood spraying across the concrete rooftop.

Ignoring the pain, he took off, jumped and scaled the side of the building with the girl halfway inside his mouth. If he could just quickly devour her—he began to, slid his forked tongue around her pale milky legs, let her delectable body fill his mouth and glide along the slick moistness of it.

It was as far as he got before Sesshoumaru impaled him through the chest with one sword and releasing a rapid outward swing, ruthlessly beheaded him with the other.

Inuyasha freefell and caught the girl, cursing as he pried her from the disgusting jaws of the snake demon. They landed smoothly on the ground, shortly followed by Sesshoumaru and the headless bloody snake.

Sword still buried deep in Sadao's chest, the older Taisho stepped over him.

But something wasn't quite right. The demon's body suddenly began to deteriorate, until all that was left was a dry brittle husk of its former self.

Realization quickly dawned and releasing a visceral snarl, Sesshoumaru called away his twin swords and looked towards Inuyasha who was gently slapping the girl, coaxing her out of the demonic spell.

"A replica. He created another of himself to act as a decoy. Bring her back to The Jewel, Inuyasha."

"What? Can't we just dump her here? It's close enough."

Sesshoumaru shot his half brother a hard glare and ignored his grumbling, turning away when Inuyasha none too gently hauled the confused girl back towards the pounding night club.

…

A burning pain ripped across Sadao's chest. Stumbling, he grasped the shadowed walls for support as he felt his replica's demise. It had afforded him precious time however and he knew escape had held more priority than a meal. Taking a deep breath, he straightened out his long disheveled black hair and tried to calm his jumping nerves.

Sadao knew he didn't have much time now, knowing that the Hunters would quickly be able to find him. His serpentine eyes took in his surroundings until he spotted a chic, modern bar called Blue. With just one more woman to consume, he made his way over and stepped through the crystal clear door.

…

She placed the small glass of brandy in front of him. "Long day?"

He glanced at the blue eyed woman on the other side of the bar. She was quite beautiful. Long ebony hair, sun kissed skin and curves in all the right places, enhanced by the cropped vest she wore and the low rise, shredded jeans.

"Something like that," he replied.

Taking a drink, he covertly scanned the place, noticing a good mix of both male and females intermingling. But his eyes were drawn once again to the laughing bartender, to the smooth seductive curve of her back and the ink just barely peeking from the bottom of her vest.

He downed the rest of his brandy and flagged her down.

"Another one?" she asked, deft hands already reaching for the bottle of hard liquor.

Sadao nodded. "So what's your name?"

She glanced at him before placing his newly filled glass cup on the bar counter. "Kagome. And yours?"

"Sadao."

It almost sounded like a hiss to her as she got caught in his penetrating, darkly alluring gaze.

"Join me tonight, Kagome." He reached over, ran his cold fingertips down the length of her arm.

She bit her lip, hesitant and unsure. "But I—"

"_Join me,_" he pressed, his tone having grown darker and more seductive.

After a breathless moment, Kagome relented. "Okay," she murmured and Sadao knew then that he had her under his demonic spell.

…

He trailed hot kisses along her naked inner thigh, mouth salivating, hungry for her subtle and unique rainwater taste.

"Sadao…" she breathed.

"You taste divine," he murmured against her skin, forked tongue darting out to scent, smooth dark scales slowly fading in as he let himself go.

But a powerful surge hummed through the air then, wild and wicked just beneath his widening mouth and flickering tongue.

A bone deep shiver ran down his spine as his senses abruptly reared back and slammed into his chest, leaving him breathless and frozen. It didn't take him long to realize his foolish mistake, the trap he'd so conveniently fallen into. And as the cool kiss of silver pressed against his forehead, he could feel his imminent death upon his tongue. It took him one second to look at her, her electrifying blue eyes seared into his dying memory before she pulled the trigger of her sleek, silver gun.

Blood splattered across the soft carpet, painted itself across the white suede of the settee and her sun-kissed skin as his nearly headless body hit the carpet. Calling forth her razor sharp kodachi, Kagome stood, made a shallow cut on the palm of her hand, and gripped the blade. She let her blood trickle down the shiny silver before plunging it deep into the snake demon's chest. Murmuring in the ancient language, Sadao's body suddenly erupted in a cloud of swirling black ash along with any and all remnants of his existence.

Kagome took a deep, long breath and called away her sharp blade and silver gun. Body still purring with the aftermath of the sacrament, she straightened out her clothing and smiled wistfully when she felt the other Hunters' swift approach.

If only…_if only…_

She caught the dark stream right before they burst into the room.

…

"That little bitch," Inuyasha said, though it was more out of fondness than spite.

The room looked untouched but to dark beings like them the atmosphere was thick with dark power and saturated with the scent of demonic blood and a hint of rainwater.

Sesshoumaru moved throughout the hotel room, letting her fading presence seep into his soul.

"_Kagome…Kagome…_how you tempt me…" he whispered, a ghost of a pensive smile fleeing across his lips. It had been many _many_ moons since he last saw her.

"Should we track her down and say hello?"

Even though he would like nothing better than to do just that, Sesshoumaru reluctantly shook his head. "She's bound by the chains of the Vatican or have you forgotten little brother? This was, no doubt, their kill order. If anything, she'll find us should the need arise."

Inuyasha heaved a slightly disappointed sigh, cursing the damnable bastards who kept her bound under lock and key. "It's fucking unfair and messed up. I'd run them all through if I could."

Sesshoumaru glanced at his younger brother, silently echoing his sentiments. She was the last being who deserved to be tethered and choked. But this world was cruel and drowning in vice, bloodthirsty and dark in corruption. Rare possessions were never let go so easily, if even at all.

Theirs was a complex fate. One steeped in duty and blurry lines, spurred by the whims and drives of dark lifeless souls who cried for more. It didn't matter if things were unfair or not.

"I'm sure Father would like to know."

Inuyasha grunted, his adrenaline shot and draining while he took one last look around. And as the distant roll of thunder shook the earth, they both grasped the threads of the dark stream and disappeared.

* * *

…_to be continued…_

* * *

**A/N:** A very long overdue one-shot for Kirche! I've never written a 'gift' fic for anyone before, let alone for a guy so I hope this was somewhat satisfying. I actually really enjoyed creating this universe and almost feel a bit forlorn leaving it thus. I sense its mysterious allure drawing me in. Hmm…I might just add to it. We'll have to see.

Again, much thanks to Kirche for donating to Dokuga. Hope you all enjoyed.

And to the very helpful and wonderful Smittee – I'm in the midst of writing yours. I'm crossing my fingers and hoping to have it out soon!

_-hasu_


	2. Chapter Two

Disclaimer: Inuyasha and any of its characters do not belong to me.

* * *

**Hunter**

_Chapter Two_

**…**

Kagome walked into the monumental cathedral, footsteps echoing throughout the spacious dome as she made her way towards the far back wall where a large classical tapestry hung still and unassuming. Reaching behind it, she brushed her hand along the hidden scanner. With a nearly inaudible _beep_, a hidden door slid open with a gust and an airy whoosh. She had to force herself to sweep the heavy drapery aside and enter. She progressed up the marble steps and into the large brightly lit sacred chamber with feet that felt like lead.

"The mission was completed and the sacrament successful."

"Very well done, Kagome." Fingers brushed across her cheek.

"Naraku. Back already?"

"You sound disappointed."

Kagome fought the urge to run her blade through his chest. If she could, there would be no hesitation. She'd enjoy every single damn second.

He smiled, dark eyes glowing with an eerie light Kagome always suspected wasn't entirely human.

"You reek of demons. Consorting with the enemy now, oh blessed one?" The invisible chains which bound her to this place snaked up and around her body, driving the breath from her lungs and suspending her off the pristine floors.

Kagome felt the chain tighten around her neck and torso. Yet as her blue eyes glimmered with a bone deep coldness, with her scorching hatred that intensified with each passing day, the satisfied smirk never left her lips.

"Watch your tongue, Hunter," Naraku hissed just inches from her face.

She pulled sharply against the ties that bound her, heedless of the strong burning sensation ripping across her skin and clothes.

"You should be more careful, Naraku. I can see the demons in your eyes," Kagome cautioned, her voice dangerously quiet. "Step over the boundary and I _will not hesitate_ to hunt you down and _kill _you, with or without the Adonai's blessing."

He gripped her lower face and smirked. From the moving shadows of his bottomless eyes, lurking beneath the veneer of his dwindling humanity, he let her glimpse something deeper and far darker than mere demons.

"By then, it will already be too late."

…

"Kagome."

"Kagome?"

"It was her sacrament, not mine," Sesshoumaru said to his father as they stood outside the towering gates between hell and the dark stream. The ground was nothing but hard dead earth; the sky a somber gray lined with bitter black clouds and streaks of orange fire, flashes of elemental light.

"Ah, no wonder it felt a little different. Did you talk to her?"

Sesshoumaru shook his head. "She disappeared before I could get the chance."

"She was probably on orders to avoid contact with other Hunters." He sighed then, lamenting the undeserved fate of one such as she. "The Vatican will never let her go. They'd rather see her dead than free, Sesshoumaru."

"Is there no way to release her?"

"You know we aren't allowed to interfere," Touga replied as he glanced at his eldest son with inquisitive eyes. "This is her fight, not ours. As much as we may hate it, there is little else we can do that won't make it harder for her."

"Hnn."

"Kagome's a Hunter, son. She isn't exactly helpless." Slight amusement colored his words as he stared at his eldest.

Far from it, Sesshoumaru thought. She was more than capable of taking care of herself. Leaving the topic of Kagome—ever elusive yet captured Hunter—aside for the moment, he shifted to another. "Has there been any more disturbances?"

Touga shook his head. "It's been relatively quiet lately, which does not bode well at all."

Sesshoumaru had to agree. Something was changing, rippling under this false pretense of silence and peace in both worlds. He could _feel_ it.

"Be watchful and stay alert," Touga advised.

Sesshoumaru gave a small nod before catching the dark stream and returning to his residence in Tokyo.

Touga, fallen angel tied to the duty of a hell watcher and thereby condemning his sons to the Hunter fate, could only gaze at the somber skies of his self-imposed prison.

"Something is amiss."

"You feel it too, Totosai?"

"Every dark being would."

Touga glanced at his ancient gate keeper. "We will have to monitor the boundary closer than ever before."

"Yes, but the cracks will begin to show."

"Hunters, Totosai. It is why we have them."

"Then let us hope they will succeed where we cannot."

…

Humanity was fleeting. There one moment and gone the next.

Such fragile yet resilient creatures. So easily swayed and corrupted. So easily broken and impossible to fully mend. _Humans._ They placed such worth on emotions. Love. Hate. Passion. Sorrow. And it was why they were so effortlessly manipulated. A strength one moment. A crippling weakness the next.

Kagome reached out her hand and curled her fingers around a group of rich, sheltered tourists too far away. Clad in short black shorts, a matching sleeveless snap up shirt and gray tank top, she contemplated their short existence. Death walked in their shadows, marred their skin in paper thin lines. They were like ants, crushed without difficulty in their rose-colored world. Ignoring the corruption, the death and decay that crept along every city street, they continued along, heedless and unsuspecting of the demons that waited in the shadows, in the dark recesses of their hearts.

She opened her hand and they were gone, no doubt inside the very dome she stood atop. _Stupid humans, if you only knew…_

Centuries on Earth, decades bound to the Vatican, or more specifically the Adonai—the Vatican's faction for demon control and led by power hungry corrupts with too many sins and black secrets to count. All this under their facades of righteousness and good-will. It made her itch to kill them all. But of course she couldn't. Their curse kept her from running them through with her kodachi or even putting a bullet in their heads. She couldn't lay a finger on them and they basked in the knowledge of it. One wrong move on her part and it was hours of mind-numbing pain.

But at least they couldn't tap into the dark stream, couldn't trace her movements or destination. She was a Hunter, the only being capable of traveling the rippling shift without being torn apart from the inside out. The Adonai may have her chained to the Vatican, her freedom in their grasps, but when she was on the hunt, not even their summons could pull her away.

Like all Hunters, if one ignored the gravitational pull of duty the aftermath wasn't pretty. Not to mention the hell watchers would rain havoc on you that not even the depths of the underworld would keep you safe from their wrath. There were stories of wings being shredded, of feathers being burned by hellfire. Kagome didn't doubt them for a moment.

She knew how agonizing and weakening damage to one's wings were. It tore apart the heart and mind until blackness became your best friend and you hungered for death. It was how the Adonai had ensnared and bound her. It'd taken years for her wings to mend and grow back. When once she had displayed them proudly, now she refused. Kagome never wanted to suffer that kind of soul-wrenching agony again.

She didn't choose to be a Hunter. It chose her. And who was she to say no to the heavens? This gift—_curse?—_couldn't be repackaged and sent back. Unless death came knocking and the only way for that to happen to an immortal like her was to swallow her heart in hellfire and then cut off her pretty little head. Not many demons survived long enough to even get close.

As the ancient bell tower tolled noon, faint _unnatural_ whispers caught Kagome's attention. She snapped up straighter. Sifting through all the sounds carried on the wind, she tried to locate the source. Something wasn't right.

_There._

She soared off the towering dome, grasping the invisible threads of the dark stream and disappearing mid-air.

…

Her booted feet touched the charred ground an hour away from Rome. She walked what had once been a garden, now nothing but burnt, black earth. Smoke and ashes, cracks leading to a small humble home that smelled like rotting corpses.

Her eyes flared blue fire and she took off at a swift run, sensing something lurking in the home, about to make its escape. Her kodachi appeared in her hand just before she caught the black shadow slither out from the back and keep to the darkness provided by the overhanging branches of the surrounding trees. _Demon_.

Kagome's lips curled as its red eyes turned and saw her quick approach. It bolted. _Too late._ In one giant leap she was upon it, deftly twisting her razor sharp blade in the air and slamming it down, pinning its chest to the ground. Straddling the petrified demon, she grabbed it by the neck and hissed, "What have you done, changeling?"

It tried to slither away, its hollow eyes wild with panic. Kagome twisted the kodachi in mounting fury, ignoring its sharp cry. "Speak!"

"Not me!"

"You dare to lie?"

"Lured by the scent…" it rasped, deathly afraid of this Hunter. It had heard stories of this one. The one with the blue eyes.

Kagome pulled her sleek silver gun from her leg holster and pressed the cool metal hard against its head. "Run and I'll send you straight back to hell in pieces."

It nodded, features shifting to become more human and less like the leathery, deformed elf offspring it was.

Kagome stood, ripping her kodachi from the changeling's chest. It gurgled a sound of relief as she whipped the blade free of black blood and sheathed it. The injury would heal in a matter of minutes. She hadn't inflicted to kill. Tucking her gun in the holster secured around her thigh, she shot the demon a warning look before making her way into the silent home.

The stench of rotting flesh permeated the entire space. Kagome stepped over a body, flesh practically melted off the bones, and knew this had occurred only minutes ago. But why hadn't she sensed the overwhelmingly malevolent force until now?

She entered the living room. Two children were sprawled across the rug, bled to death, skin marred by jagged claws and nearly unrecognizable. Her gut clenched, not seeing an ounce of their blood on any surface. They'd been sucked dry through the gaping, vertical wounds and not a drop had been spared.

Gritting her teeth, she followed the pungent stench into the kitchen where congealing blood smeared the floor. Kagome traced the red path into a bedroom. On the bed and on the carpet were two mangled bodies. Throats ripped out, hearts taken, and flesh corroded just like the one in the hall. Kagome knelt down by the woman's torn upper body, scanning for any clue as to what had possibly done this.

_Black blood_.

She inhaled and froze. _No scent?_ Each demon carried with it a unique scent. Dark elves, for instance, bled the smell of wilted flowers. Trolls held a strong bitterness and incubi the scent of sweet seductive spice. But this…this black blood was untraceable.

Kagome swept up and headed for the bathroom. If she couldn't instinctively tell what had done this, then she'd have to gather samples and send it elsewhere. She grabbed a few cotton swabs and a small plastic bag, returned to the bedroom and collected what the demon had left behind.

Outside once again, Kagome slowly circled the home, whispering in the ancient words of her kind. Blue hellfire soon swirled around the domicile, ate away the remnants of humanity inside. No trace of what had happened could be left behind.

The changeling crouched back against the trunk of a tree, awed by what it was witnessing. That was until the Hunter swiveled around, engulfed by her thunderous aura, and headed straight for it.

"Start talking," Kagome ordered, towering over the dark elf spawn that had been drawn to the bloodless hearts of the children.

It unfurled its long leathery fingers, blinked its wide eyes before hesitantly nodding. "Dark pull here. Did not know demons, but many from one. Disappear after taking hearts and blood."

Kagome pondered what little information the changeling was able to give. Nothing left a trail like that unless it wanted to be found. Unless she concealed her presence, every demon could sense her. None would dare to try anything with her so close unless they were desperate, stupid, or looking for a one way ticket back to hell. Had this demon or demons been in a rush? Perhaps. Was this a message? A tease? _Catch me if you can, Hunter._ The latter was more plausible.

She exhaled. Adult humans were one thing, but when children were killed it became a whole other matter. The Adonai was going to have a field day with this.

"Get out of here, changeling, before I change my mind about killing you." It fled into the darkness without a second glance.

Kagome swept her blue eyes over the small piece of land. Ashes danced in the breeze. Death marked the soil a charred grave. It was empty, devoid of the life that had once run free. Already, her fate was calling for black blood. But before she went on the hunt, she needed to make a few visits.

Kagome vanished, traveling the dark stream. Her destination…_Tokyo_.

* * *

…_to be continued…_

* * *

**A/N**: So I finally got my act together long enough to churn this baby out. Thought I'd never continue this, huh? It's my supernatural compulsion at play now…


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